OT: Question about how much to pay a babysitter?

[bangzoom6877]

We live in Brooklyn, NY and my mom's neighbor has a 14-year-old daughter who babysits, and I have known her since *before* she was born! I would trust her with my kids. I asked her how much she gets for it and she said she leaves it up to the parents. How much would be appropriate? Opinions please!

One more thing...our kids are 3 y.o. and the little one, 15 months. Little one is in diapers, big one is not.

 

[jakoky]

hi there, i have 3 kids who babysit- a 17 yr dd, a 15 yr ds, and my dd-almost 13(i know she is young, but she is amazing and has so much experience with little ones as i have an in-home daycare) ...they get anywhere from 5-8 dollars an hour...I will tell you, if she is good, give her a little extra...my kids are take almost all the jobs they are offered(which some weeks is crazy amounts), but the ones that give a little more, they will sometimes give up previous made plans for...good luck
sharon

 

[bangzoom6877]

hi there, i have 3 kids who babysit- a 17 yr dd, a 15 yr ds, and my dd-almost 13(i know she is young, but she is amazing and has so much experience with little ones as i have an in-home daycare) ...they get anywhere from 5-8 dollars an hour...I will tell you, if she is good, give her a little extra...my kids are take almost all the jobs they are offered(which some weeks is crazy amounts), but the ones that give a little more, they will sometimes give up previous made plans for...good luck
sharon

Okay, I was thinking something in that range. It is hard when someone says, "I leave it up to the parent to decide how much to pay me" although it is very nice of her. I was thinking like $25-30 if it is for 4 hours or so.

 

[mjkacmom]

The rate in NJ is $10, and keep in mind Brooklyn has an even higher COL. I used to babysit a single 4 year old 20 years ago, and was paid $6 an hour.

Edited - I thought your mom lived in Brooklyn, and you were visiting.

 

[chrissiecutie]

I'd say $10/hour. Especially if one is in diapers and both are so young. The younger they are the more you pay!

 

[imthatgirl]

$8-$10 an hour, depending on how many hours you are gone. lets say its 4 hours, $40 is a bit much, but $32 would be perfect.
i think its unfair to pay any less than min wage.

 

[mjkacmom]

$8-$10 an hour, depending on how many hours you are gone. lets say its 4 hours, $40 is a bit much, but $32 would be perfect.
i think its unfair to pay any less than min wage.

That sounds a little low for a 1 and 3 year old - I'd pay $8 (maybe) for a 6 and 8 year old, because it's usually less work. I don't know of anyone who pays less than $10 around here.

 

[Disneydonnam]

We pay $12 hr and on a week-end for our older sitter $15

 

[Mickeypooh99]

Wow. It seems different areas pay a lot for babysitting. Here in Michigan I pay our teen sitter $5.00 per hour for my two boys. Friends of mine also say they pay about the same. This is for kids ages 1 and up. I wouldn't leave an infant with a teen, but if I did I would pay more.

 

[mjkacmom]

Wow. It seems different areas pay a lot for babysitting. Here in Michigan I pay our teen sitter $5.00 per hour for my two boys. Friends of mine also say they pay about the same. This is for kids ages 1 and up. I wouldn't leave an infant with a teen, but if I did I would pay more.

It depends on the COL in your area - $5 will get you a mother's helper, though.

 

[nemomama]

I would say around $12, especially considering the ages of your children. It can be difficult to watch 2 children, especially at these ages...definitely no less than $10 per hour. HTH

 

[disykat]

Whatever happened to young teens making less than minimum wage? When I babysat, I made 1/3 - 1/2 minimum wage ( I made 50 - 75 cents an hour babysitting and $1.51 an hour at the Dairy Queen). When I was paying babysitters a few years ago, the kids were making a little over 2/3 minimum wage. Now it seems the going rate is minimum wage or higher?

 

[imthatgirl]

Whatever happened to young teens making less than minimum wage? When I babysat, I made 1/3 - 1/2 minimum wage ( I made 50 - 75 cents an hour babysitting and $1.51 an hour at the Dairy Queen). When I was paying babysitters a few years ago, the kids were making a little over 2/3 minimum wage. Now it seems the going rate is minimum wage or higher?

well now, you have to make it worth it for them. why would they want to baby sit 2 kids for 3-4 hours and make $15? they wouldnt.
now someone did say $10 an hour, but day cares dont even get that, so thats a bit extreme. if i was gone for 2 hours i might give her $20, like i said it has to be worth her time, but if i was gone 4 hours, $40 is too much. 30-32 is fine.
but what do i really know, i have never paid a babysitter, and probably never will.

 

[mjkacmom]

well now, you have to make it worth it for them. why would they want to baby sit 2 kids for 3-4 hours and make $15? they wouldnt.
now someone did say $10 an hour, but day cares dont even get that, so thats a bit extreme. if i was gone for 2 hours i might give her $20, like i said it has to be worth her time, but if i was gone 4 hours, $40 is too much. 30-32 is fine.
but what do i really know, i have never paid a babysitter, and probably never will.

If you haven't used a sitter, how would you know what is the average pay in your area? My friends and I having been using teen sitters for many years, and trust me, $10 is NOT extreme. I think the reason babysitting costs have gone up goes along with the decline of kids who need to make money - try to find a kid to shovel snow or mow a lawn!

One more year, and I have a 13 year old dd - woo-hoo!

 

[4r5sons]

My son who is in high school gets paid $7 for older easier kids and $8 for younger kids. Sometimes if he has cleaned the kitchen, toys or whatever they will give him a tip...

Basically...it has been my experience that if the sitter is in high demand (as the good ones always are) you need to pay them "better" or they will take the job with the family that will.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Thanks everyone for the input! I think I would go with the $30 for a 3 to 4-hour outing. We have a wedding to go to in December on a Friday night and it is a pretty far drive from here (1 and a half hours roughly), so we figured $100 for that night since she is in high school and it is a Friday night for many hours. Of course that will be close to 10 hours total of babysitting. Most of that time the kids will be asleep but I think that it is fair to give her a good amount since she has to spend a Friday night in my house instead of out with friends (my kids go to bed early...between 7 and 8PM so then she would just be sitting around her instead of spending time with friends).

Like I said in my original post, she left it up to me to pay her whatever I feel comfortable with, but I did not want to be unfair by giving her too little since I had no idea what the going rate was for a sitter. She told me that she has only babysat for her cousin's baby and she leaves it up to them. But then I thought to myself, that is family so it is different and I wanted to be fair to her.

 

[mamaLori05]

Well, I can say that I have never had to pay a babysitter either, but I do talk with other mom's in the neighborhood about different babysitters they have used just in case I ever need to. One girl in the neighborhood was charging $7/hr for three kids under the age of 4. That same girl then upped her rate for another neighbor to $10 an hour for one child who was already sleeping when she got there. Needless to say that girl did not get asked back to either of the families houses for babysitting because the rumor went around that she had upped her rate. I've since heard that four other familes she used to sit for have decided not to ask her back also because of the increase. They have all decided to use another sitter who was only charging $5-$7 per hour depending on number of kids.

I guess what I am trying to say by all of this is talk with some of your neighbors and friends and see what they pay. As you can tell from the pp's, it depends on your area.

Oh, and if you know of anyone who is babysitting and thinking of raising their rate...you might want to tell them that story. Word gets around real quick, and the result may not be what you were looking for.

 

[mjkacmom]

Since the wedding is that far away, I'd definately give it a trial run beforehand, since you've never used her, and your kids have never had a sitter. It's a nice excuse to get out for a few hours with your DH!

 

[ChillyWilleys]

Whatever happened to young teens making less than minimum wage? When I babysat, I made 1/3 - 1/2 minimum wage ( I made 50 - 75 cents an hour babysitting and $1.51 an hour at the Dairy Queen). When I was paying babysitters a few years ago, the kids were making a little over 2/3 minimum wage. Now it seems the going rate is minimum wage or higher?

I think a lot of it has to do with how we've recently been forced to look at what a big job it actually is and how very important it is that its done right. We used to just think a teen could hang out with the kids for a bit and make sure they're safe. With all the shaken babies and other nannycam scandals were realizing how important it is and how hard it may be to find someone to do the job right.

 

[vcgirl925]

This is totally going to depend on where you live. I'm in the NJ area and our babysitters get paid well. Nothing less than $8 an hour but usually more like $10. So i'd say with a 14 y/o i would go with $8.